Wednesday, 5 February 2014

What The Flip Is Korfball?

Almost without fail, every time I mention korfball on the blog, I get a comment asking what it is. And because it's awesome, and I'm awesome, and you're awesome, I've decided to write a little post explaining what it is, so you can know and maybe go and try it out yourself. Sound good? Good.

As I've mentioned before- I heard about it through Jenny, who is far more experienced and far more knowledgeable about this than I am, so to be honest, it would probably be better if she was writing this than me. Fortunately, I'm forcing J to check this for me before I publish it, so chances are I won't be saying anything too stupid.

Whenever anyone asks me what korfball is, I tend to start by saying that it's kind of like a cross between basketball and netball, with its own stuff thrown in too. So- if you play or have played either one of those, you should be able to get on board with korfball.

Korfball is so named because "korf" is Dutch for "basket"- and as the sport originated in The Netherlands, and the name "basketball" was already taken, it's stuck. And as they invented it, the Dutch are pretty damn good at the sport, which is nice for them. Look, they're bloody awesome at it:

There are four guys and four girls on a korfball team- apparently, it's the only sport to have been designed deliberately to be played by mixed teams. Each team is split into two divisions of two men and two women, and each division takes one half of the court- during play, you aren't allowed to go over the line into the other half of the court, so it's about teamwork and getting the ball back to your attackers. Obviously one half will be attackers, and the others will be defenders- but every two goals, everyone swaps. So if you start in the attacking half, after two goals, you'll become a defender. And other than that, there are no fixed positions- so unlike netball, you can run around all over the place (in your half), anyone can shoot, and so on.

Basically, the object of the game is to get the ball into the korf, which is 3.4 meters high, more times than the opposing team. And no, you can't run with or dribble the ball, but you can take two stopping steps if you catch the ball while you're moving- which can be pretty handy. And unlike in netball, you don't have to pass the ball within a certain amount of time- if you catch the ball, and you can't pass it easily, you can stand there with it until your teammates get into a better position. Good, eh?!

The thing I really liked about korfball when I joined was that a lot of people find it at uni, or later- and because it's a pretty niche sport, when you go along to a club they will basically expect you to be a beginner, which is great when you're as uncoordinated and useless as I am.

So there we have it! A very basic introduction to korfball. If you like the sound of it , you can find a club local to you by following one of the following links (if you're in the England/ Scotland/ Wales. If you aren't, maybe just google "korfball" and the name of your town/ county/ area, and something might come up?):

Seriously, it's great, and worth trying even if you think you're useless at ball sports- I am, and I'm doing OK so far. And if you like the sound of it and have any more questions, please feel free to give me a shout? I may not be able to answer them, but if I can't I'll know someone who can.

5 comments:

Check you out feeding in that top photo!! None of your readers will know what I'm talking about now :P You are my one recruit to the korfballing world, I knew you'd love it. Hopefully there'll be some summer tournaments that both our teams can go to or I can sneak along as a Dragons ringer :P